5 r. a b a S i a (Tbilisi) bgeraTSesatyvisobis erTi rigisaTvis qarTvelur ...

able to record on audiotape a few Tavsili versions of the Book of Genesis. The
full text along with its commentary will be published in the nearest future
(copies should be available for the conference).
The entire text has been recorded from one Rabbi, while some portions of
the text have been recorded from two additional Rabbis. Tavsili is extremely
important for the study of translations of the Old Testament, especially the oral
translations. In addition, it is just as important for the study of history of
Georgian language and it’s dialects.
By our estimation, the translation was created in 11 th - 12 th centuries. As
previously mentioned, it has been orally transmitted throughout the generations
and has survived until the present time (although the traditional text is in clear
danger of being forgotten.) Rabbis and their students were studying the text for
years trying to preserve its original form. However, it is clear that the text
wasn’t entirely transmitted in its original form due to multiple reasons.
First, due to the Rabbis’ limited general educational level (or their
knowledge of literal language), and their memory. Furthermore, due to changes
in daily speech, influences of local dialects and their poor knowledge of Hebrew
language, etc.
The importance of Tavsili for Georgian linguistics is immense. It is one
of the rarest samples of historic, life speech. Its proper research will help us in
the study of the history of the Georgian language and its dialects.
During the presentation, a couple of examples will be given, which will
help us understand how Tavsili can be used to view the changes that took place
in the Georgian language.
1. Article; Tavsili uses the article without limits. It’s clear that this is due
to the influence of Hebrew. On the other hand, it’s also apparent, that at the time
of creation of this translation the article has been actively used in Georgian,
although, the process of changing the rules of its use has already begun. This
pertains to the location of the article as well as its uses with Proper Names, etc;
2. Use of Stem Case forms and their gradual change to Nominative or
Ergative Cases. For example in the same verse we have two different forms –
“Terax deebada igi Abram” and “deebada igi Abrami”.
3. Directional Case Forms – for example, suqota. Suqot is the name of
the place.
157